Vise handles



Feb. 17, 1959 E. e. BAER VISE HANDLES Filed May 11, 1953 IN VEN TOR.

Edward G. Baer United States Patent VISE HANDLES Edward G. Baer, ()rrville, Ohio, assignor to The Will- Burt Company, Orrville, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 11, 1953, Serial No. 354,286

1 Claim. (Cl. 74-5 48) The invention relates to vises, and more particularly to an improvement in the handle or lever which is slidably located through the head of the vise screw, for the purpose of opening and closing the vise by turning the screw.

In the usual construction of vises such as are now in general use, this handle or lever is usually constructed so as to slide freely in the screw head.

While a certain amount of movement of the lever or handle in the screw head is desirable, for the purpose of varying the position of the lever, if the same slides too freely when suddenly released by the workman, so as to drop quickly, it will endanger his fingers, or hand.

This sudden motion frequently, by reason of the weight and change of position, and the jarring produced by the handle, loosens or tightens the vise screw beyond the degree required to hold the vise jaws upon the work, whereby, if the workpiece is small there is danger of its dropping to the floor, and if the workpiece be of comparatively soft material, such as wood or the like, there is danger of its being compressed out of its true shape by too great pressure applied thereto.

It has been found that there is a decided advantage in so arranging the handle or lever that it does not freely slide through the screw head or move around, but will stay in whatever position it is placed until manually moved to another position.

When the handle is centered endwise in the vise screw head, the screw can be spun or turned when it is desirable or necessary to move the vise position some distance. 13y so holding the handle or lever in adjusted position within the screw head, there is no danger of pinching of the fingers or hand of the operator, which happens when the handle slides freely from one end to the other.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of a vise handle or lever with spring means for frictionally holding it in adjusted position within the head of the vise screw.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which the only additional part required to produce the desired result is a small bowed spring, located within the opening in the screw head through which the handle or lever is slidably mounted, and so arranged as to place sufiicient tension upon the lever or handle to normally hold it in centered or adjusted position while permitting sliding movement thereof when desirable or necessary.

Another object is to construct such a device with a minimum of operations, by merely drilling the hole in the screw head of slightly larger diameter than in the conventional type, so as to provide room therein for the tension spring.

A further object is to provide a vise handle of the character referred to having a bowed spring located through the aperture in the screw head and provided with hooked ends for engaging opposite sides of the screw head to prevent accidental displacement of the spring.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawing and following description, or which may be later referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved vise handle in the manner hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which;

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a vise screw and handle embodying the invention, parts being broken in section for the purpose of illustration;

Fig. 2 a longitudinal, sectional view through the screw head, taken as on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 an enlarged side elevation of the bowed or arcuate tension spring forming an important part of the invention; and,

Fig. 4 an end elevation of the spring shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, in which similar numerals refer'to similar parts throughout, a vise screw is indicated generally at 10, provided at its inner end with the usual screw threaded portion 11 of suitable length and with a thread of suitable pitch for operating the jaws of the vise in which it is to be used.

The head 12 is fixed upon the outer end of the screw and is provided with the usual, diametric bore or aperture 13, as is common in such devices, for slidably receiving the conventional vise handle or lever 14 which, as in customary manner, is provided with balls or enlargements 15 at opposite ends to prevent the handle from being accidentally withdrawn from the vise screw.

In the conventional vise handle this diametric bore is of only slightly greater diameter than the handle or lever 14 so as to permit free sliding movement of the handle therethrough.

For the purpose of the invention the aperture 13 in the screw head 12 is a trifle larger than under present practice, so as to provide room for the bowed or arcuate spring 16 within the bore 13, the central portion thereof frictionally engaging the handle or lever 14.

This spring, as shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4, is formed of flat spring strip stock arcuately curved longitudinally and having the integral hooks 17 at opposite ends for contact with opposite sides of the screw head 12 at opposite ends of the dimetric bore 13 therein, so as to retain the spring within the bore without the necessity of changing the shape of the bore or of using any extraneous fastening means.

As best shown in Fig. 1, the arcuate spring 16 is partially flattened by insertion into the bore 13 between opposed sides of the bore and the handle 14. The spring thus frictionally engages the handle 14 holding it in any position to which it may be adjusted relative to the screw head 12, while at the same time permitting longitudinal movemeut of the handle within the bore by manually pulling or pushing the handle therethrough in either direction.

From the above it will be obvious that the disadvantages and diificulties inherent in the conventional type of vise handle as now in general use, are overcome, the handle being at all times frictionally held against flopping about or freely sliding through the bore in the screw head.

Thus the danger of the workman pinching his fingers or hands by sudden dropping of the handle is eliminated, and also the jaring produced by dropping of the handle is obviated, so that the vise screw will be neither loosened or tightened beyond the desired point and small workpieces will not accidentally drop from the vise nor will comparatively soft material be compressed. out of shape by too great pressure being applied thereto.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such words are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed.

vise

., .to the exact detailsdisclosed.

Having now described the'invention or discovery, the

1 construction, the operation, and use of preferred embodiments thereof, and the advantageous new and useful reand reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claim.

t I claim:

A vise handle structure including a vise screw having a threaded inner end and an enlraged head at its outer end,,there being a straight cylindric diametric bore located entirely through said head, a straight lever slidably located through said bore, said lever comprising a round bar of smaller diameter than said bore and having an enlargement at each end thereof, a bowed leaf spring located entirely through said bore, the central portion I sults obtained thereby; the new and useful constructions,

of said spring frictionally contacting the adjacent side of the lever and the end portions of the spring frictionally contacting opposite end portions of the bore, integral hooks at opposite ends of the spring, said hooks being disposed in a direction away from the lever and arranged to contact opposite sides of the exterior of said head beyond the opposite ends of the bore, whereby the lever may be adjusted longitudinally in the bore and frictionally held in adjusted position solely by said spring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 65,114 Perkins May 28, 1867 7 556,540 Hendryx Mar. 17, 1896 725,691 Fletcher Apr. 21, 1903 826,002 Winslow et al. July 17, 1906 845,717 Miller Feb. 26, 1907 1,612,446 Larson Dec. -28, 1926 1,909,353 Hughes et a1. May 16, 1933 2,156,349 Oldfield May 2, 1939 

